Wear 256 (2004) 846–853 Wear of advanced cemented carbides for metalforming tool materials Heinrich Klaasen ∗ , Jakob Kübarsepp Department of Materials Engineering, Tallinn Technical University, Ehitajate tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia Received 1 June 2003; received in revised form 7 August 2003; accepted 7 August 2003 Abstract Wear behavior of some advanced cemented carbides (TiC-base cermets and some WC-hardmetals) in a series of functional wear experiments (including blanking of electrotechnical sheet steel in production conditions) was analyzed. Comparative laboratory trials of related materials in abrasive-erosion and adhesive-wear conditions were conducted, complemented by SEM. A good correlation between adhesive-wear resistance of the alloys investigated and their resistance to side wear (flank wear of blanking tool) as well as similarity in the morphology of surface failure in both cases was found. With regard to blanking performance, TiC-base cermet with a Ni–steel binder proved to have advantages over conventional WC-base hardmetals (used in metalforming). © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Cemented carbide; Cermet; Wear; Blanking tool; Metalforming; Adhesive wear 1. Introduction Cemented carbides (hardmetals and cermets) allow the service life of tools and wearing machine parts to be prolon- ged. These materials are mainly used in service conditions where high wear resistance either in abrasive conditions or at elevated temperatures (high speed cutting) is required. Cemented carbides, particularly cermets, are not so widely used in non-cutting operations owing to complicated wear conditions in metalforming. In metalforming, primarily high alloyed tool steels or tungsten carbide-base hardmetals (with relatively high binder fraction) have been successfully used [1–3]. Cemented carbides are used to make coining (generally light coining of small pieces), wire-drawing, deep-drawing, blanking and bending dies in large industrial quantities. Of cemented carbides, straight tungsten carbide grades are most frequently used. Steel bonded carbides are also occasionally used, e.g. for deep-drawing tools [4,5]. This paper focuses on the tribological behavior of some advanced titanium carbide-base cermets with a steel binder, in particular, on their performance as tool materials for met- alforming (blanking) applications and on their response as inserts in abrasive-erosion and adhesive-wear experiments. The performance of these cermets was compared to that of tungsten carbide hardmetals used for producing blanking tools (in blanking of electrotechnical sheet steel). Another ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +372-620-3359; fax: +372-620-3196. E-mail address: roosme@hot.ee (H. Klaasen). important aim was to identify any correlation that might ex- ist between wear resistance and wear during blanking, on the one hand and adhesive wear and abrasion (abrasive ero- sion), on the other hand. This problem has mainly been discussed in terms of tool steels and ceramics for milling, turning and other cut- ting operations [2,6–9]. A good correlation between the performance of these materials in cutting operations and abrasive-erosion wear resistance has been reported. Fewer contributions can be found concerning the performance of tool materials for metalforming (blanking) applications, in particular, their response in different wear conditions [2,3,10,11]. 2. Materials and experimental procedure 2.1. Materials Hardmetal dies used in stamping of laminations for elec- tric motors were studied. It was found that WC-base hard- metals used in these dies differed in their carbide content (10, 15, 20 wt.%), grain size (1.8–3.1 m), and production routes (carburization temperature). Structural and techno- logical characteristics of alloys, their mechanical properties, as well as performance data (lifetime in blanking) are pre- sented in Table 1. Table 1 shows some advanced WC-hardmetals (grade WC15-C) based on “high-temperature” WC powders (pow- 0043-1648/$ – see front matter © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.wear.2003.08.004